SAVANNAH, Ga. (WJCL) - On Friday, the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Chief shared his reaction to CNN's story about Savannah's high murder rate.

The story shared that Savannah's murder rate is higher than cities like Miami and New York. It also shared community members' concerns that city leaders are not doing enough to address the problem.

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"We are not hiding the fact that crime is a problem in our community," said Chief Joseph Lumpkin, Sr. of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department.

Chief Lumpkin says that the department has already been trying to solve this issue and bring awareness to it.

"In a transparent mode, we have consistently produced the unflattering statistics, we have produced our own documentary that you all have seen much like the CNN story on our End Gun Violence Step Forward initiative," Chief Lumpkin said.

He also says along with regular talks with the City Council and County Commissioners about gun violence, the department is committed to hiring more officers and is now fully staffed. Those officers will be on their own in the streets by the end of November. However, he says in order to most effectively reduce the murder rate, local residents need to be more willing to contact law enforcement when there's a crime.

"The police cannot make this community safer in and of themselves for even at full staff we can't put an officer on every block. Public safety is a shared responsibility," said Chief Lumpkin.

He also pointed to a reduction in the murder rate as of the beginning of the year. He says even though the murder rate is higher at this time than it was during the same time last year, it's lower in the first part of 2016 than the end of 2015.

Chief Lumpkin says the murders aren't all the same, ranging from domestic disputes to gang violence. He says in response to that gang activity, the department is targeting a gang they say is responsible for much of the violence, although he didn't specify which one. He also addressed concerns that people have that the shootings are making their way into Historic Downtown Savannah.

"We also must point out that 70 percent plus of the homicides are occurring within two small geographical corridors of this county," Chief Lumpkin said.

He says those areas are the Central Precinct and east side of Savannah.

"The bottom line is to the families and the families that are suffering, numbers do not matter, we are of the opinion any one murder is one too many," said Chief Lumpkin.